Hear my prayer. Oh Lord, let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face for me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me, answer me speedily in the day when I call.
-Psalm 102:1–2
These two verses begin a whole Psalm that lasts for 28 verses of just… The Psalm is pouring out his heart before the Lord. Feeling weak, knowing he is desperate for God, and there are so many different ways this applies to our lives, especially during these days of a global pandemic. As we continue to pray just each day on this podcast for specific needs that people are sending in during this COVID-19 crisis. Please continue to send specific ways we could be praying for you, your family, your church, your community, your city, just things you see in the light, specifically of this pandemic. So, send those into radical.net/prayerrequest.
Praying for Those Who Left the Faith
Father, we lift up those who left the faith. Please save them through the gospel of Your Son. Draw them to Yourself, we pray.
But today, especially on this day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, my heart is just heavy reading through these prayer requests for people who have members of their family, who may be once professed faith in God and love for God even, but then have wandered away. And so I am just so broken when I hear this Psalm 102, verses one and two. Cry out to God in distress. I think about moms and dads who have prodigal children.
When I think about brothers and sisters who are looking at their siblings and saying, “Please come back.” And I just want to lead us to pray. So Daniel, for example, writes, “Would you please lift up my 26-year-old son, David. Who years ago turned his back on the Lord and now tells me he doesn’t believe in God. He’s not even interested, even now in this pandemic, he shows no sign of a heartbroken for Jesus. And our hearts break for him to truly know Jesus.”
Psalm 102:1–2 Cries Out to God in Distress
And what Daniel’s written there is reflected in Tim’s son, Eric, who has addiction issues and is homeless right now. For Sue’s brother, for Stacey’s son Holden, for Elaine’s daughter Tara. And I’m guessing for many others who are listening to this right now, who have children who have wandered away from the faith.
And I just want to lead us to pray in distress, to cry out to God for them. Knowing that God loves them and pleading for God to do that which only he can do. So, God, we pray. We pray right now for Daniel’s son, David. We pray for Eric, Tim’s son. And we pray for Sue’s brother. Now we plead for Stacey’s son Holden for Elaine’s daughter, Tara for so many others. People who are coming to our mind even right now, who once professed faith in you but have wandered away from you. God, we praise you for your love.
Thanking God for His Patient and Compassionate Heart
We praise you for your compassion, for your patience, and God we pray that you would soften David’s heart, Eric’s heart, Tara’s heart, Holden’s heart, the hearts of children, siblings, family members, friends who once seemed close to you, but are far from you. God, we pray, we plead for you to save them, for you to draw them back to yourself. We don’t know in the mystery of how this all works if their faith in you was genuine. But God we pray regardless of what their faith was.
So God, we pray for their faith today. God, we pray they would open their eyes even in this circumstance we’re walking through right now in the world. God, that you would help them to see in Psalm 102:1–2 like way, their need for you. Their need for your grace, their need for your love. We pray for conviction in their hearts that you would turn their hearts to you.
Psalm 102:1–2 Prays for Those Who Have Wandered From God
They would turn their eyes to you. And help us to know how best to love them. God, I pray for Daniel, for Tim, for Sue, Stacey, Elaine, many others. Help us to know how best to love children, siblings, other family members friends who have wandered from you. God, we pray that Easter Sunday, like tomorrow even, as we gather together and worship gatherings online and all kinds of different places God, that tomorrow would be the day when you draw many of these back to yourself. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
And along those lines, I just want to invite you, hopefully, you have a church home that you can worship with tomorrow, but just in case you don’t, please feel free to join us at mcleanbible.org. And invite as many people as you desire to be a part of that as I preach the gospel. We sing the gospel, celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead during these days. I cannot wait for worship on this Easter Sunday. So know that you are welcome to join us at 9:00, 11:00, 1:00, 5:00 all day long Sunday. All those times Eastern at mcleanbible.org. And let’s plead that God would draw many, including these we just prayed for to Himself.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
